Module 3: What is Rhetoric?
Rhetoric / Rhetorical
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“Rhetorical Context” provided by Lumen Learning
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- Define the three factors of rhetorical context: purpose, author, and audience.
- Identify ways the audience analysis helps you make effective writing decisions.
Rhetorical Context
provided by Lumen Learning
Any piece of writing is shaped by external factors before the first word is ever set down on the page. These factors are referred to as the rhetorical situation, or rhetorical context, and are often presented in the form of a pyramid.
The three key factors – purpose, author, and audience – all work together to influence what the text itself says, and how it says it. In this chapter, we will examine these along with the writing process and writing for transfer.
Purpose
Purpose will sometimes be given to you (by a teacher, for example), while other times, you will decide for yourself. As the author, it’s up to you to make sure that purpose is clear not only for yourself, but especially for your audience. If your purpose is not clear, your audience is not likely to receive your intended message.
There are, of course, many different reasons to write (e.g., to inform, to entertain, to persuade, to ask questions), and you may find that some writing has more than one purpose. When this happens, be sure to consider any conflict between purposes, and remember that you will usually focus on one main purpose as primary.
Bottom line: Thinking about your purpose before you begin to write can help you create a more effective piece of writing.
Why Purpose Matters
If you’ve ever listened to a lecture or read an essay and wondered “so what” or “what is this person talking about,” then you know how frustrating it can be when an author’s purpose is not clear. By clearly defining your purpose before you begin writing, it’s less likely you’ll be that author who leaves the audience wondering.
If readers can’t identify the purpose in a text, they usually quit reading. You can’t deliver a message to an audience who quits reading.
If a teacher can’t identify the purpose in your text, they will likely assume you didn’t understand the assignment and, chances are, you won’t receive a good grade.
Audience
In order for your writing to be maximally effective, you have to think about the audience you’re writing for and adapt your writing approach to their needs, expectations, backgrounds, and interests. Being aware of your audience helps you make better decisions about what to say and how to say it. For example, you have a better idea if you will need to define or explain any terms, and you can make a more conscious effort not to say or do anything that would offend your audience.
Sometimes you know who will read your writing – for example, if you are writing an email to your boss. Other times you will have to guess who is likely to read your writing – for example, if you are writing a newspaper editorial. You will often write with a primary audience in mind, but there may be secondary and tertiary audiences to consider as well.
What to Think About
When analyzing your audience, consider these points. Doing this should make it easier to create a profile of your audience, which can help guide your writing choices.
Background-knowledge or Experience — In general, you don’t want to merely repeat what your audience already knows about the topic you’re writing about; you want to build on it. On the other hand, you don’t want to talk over their heads. Anticipate their amount of previous knowledge or experience based on elements like their age, profession, or level of education.
Expectations and Interests — Your audience may expect to find specific points or writing approaches, especially if you are writing for a teacher or a boss. Consider not only what they do want to read about, but also what they do not want to read about.
Attitudes and Biases — Your audience may have predetermined feelings about you or your topic, which can affect how hard you have to work to win them over or appeal to them. The audience’s attitudes and biases also affect their expectations – for example, if they expect to disagree with you, they will likely look for evidence that you have considered their side as well as your own.
Demographics — Consider what else you know about your audience, such as their age, gender, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, political preferences, religious affiliations, job or professional background, and area of residence. Think about how these demographics may affect how much background your audience has about your topic, what types of expectations or interests they have, and what attitudes or biases they may have.
Author
The final unique aspect of anything written down is who it exactly, that does the writing. In some sense, this is the part you have the most control over–it’s you who’s writing, after all! You can harness the aspects of yourself that will make the text most effective to its audience, for its purpose.
Analyzing yourself as an author allows you to make explicit why your audience should pay attention to what you have to say, and why they should listen to you on the particular subject at hand.
Questions for Consideration
- What personal motivations do you have for writing about this topic?
- What background knowledge do you have on this subject matter?
- What personal experiences directly relate to this subject? How do those personal experiences influence your perspectives on the issue?
- What formal training or professional experience do you have related to this subject?
- What skills do you have as a communicator? How can you harness those in this project?
- What should audience members know about you, in order to trust what you have to tell them? How will you convey that in your writing?
Basic Questions for Rhetorical Analysis
What is the rhetorical situation?
- What occasion gives rise to the need or opportunity for persuasion?
- What is the historical occasion that would give rise to the composition of this text?
Who is the author/speaker?
- How does he or she establish ethos (personal credibility)?
- Does he/she come across as knowledgeable? fair?
- Does the speaker’s reputation convey a certain authority?
What is his/her intention in speaking?
- To attack or defend?
- To exhort or dissuade from certain action?
- To praise or blame?
- To teach, to delight, or to persuade?
Who makes up the audience?
- Who is the intended audience?
- What values does the audience hold that the author or speaker appeals to?
- Who have been or might be secondary audiences?
- If this is a work of fiction, what is the nature of the audience within the fiction?
What is the content of the message?
- Can you summarize the main idea?
- What are the principal lines of reasoning or kinds of arguments used?
- What topics of invention are employed?
- How does the author or speaker appeal to reason? to emotion?
What is the form in which it is conveyed?
- What is the structure of the communication; how is it arranged?
- What oral or literary genre is it following?
- What figures of speech (schemes and tropes) are used?
- What kind of style and tone is used and for what purpose?
How do form and content correspond?
- Does the form complement the content?
- What effect could the form have, and does this aid or hinder the author’s intention?
Does the message/speech/text succeed in fulfilling the author’s or speaker’s intentions?
- For whom?
- Does the author/speaker effectively fit his/her message to the circumstances, times, and audience?
- Can you identify the responses of historical or contemporary audiences?
What does the nature of the communication reveal about the culture that produced it?
- What kinds of values or customs would the people have that would produce this?
- How do the allusions, historical references, or kinds of words used place this in a certain time and location?
LICENSES AND ATTRIBUTIONS
CC licensed content, Shared previously
Basic Questions for Rhetorical Analysis. Authored by: Gideon O. Burton. Provided by: Brigham Young University. Located at: http://rhetoric.byu.edu . Project: Silva Rhetoricae. License: CC BY: Attribution
Activities for English as a Second Language writers:
http://blog.tesol.org/the-rhetorical-situation-an-interactive-classroom-activity/
Which of these are the three main factors of the Rhetorical Situation?
Audience, Author, Message
Author, Purpose, Audience
Audience, Author, Narrative
LICENSE AND ATTRIBUTION
https://composingourselvesandourworld.pressbooks.com/chapter/2-1-rhetoric-rhetorical/#pb-interactive-content CC LICENSED CONTENT, ORIGINAL Composing Ourselves and Our World, Provided by: the authors. License: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) CC LICENSED CONTENT INCLUDED This chapter contains as adaption of Revision and Adaptation. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY-NC: Attribution-Non Commercial This chapter contains as adaption of Understanding Your Purpose. Provided by: Wright State University Writing Center. Located at: https://uwc.wikispaces.com/Understanding+Your+Purpose . License: CC BY-NC: Attribution-NonCommercial